The Australian sharemarket has closed higher despite an overnight commodity plunge that saw brent crude prices record their biggest fall in two years.

The S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 52.7 points, or 0.9 per cent to 6268.3, shaking off the trade fears that have rattled the benchmark index in the past two sessions.

CSL led the market on Thursday as it broke above $200 for the first time ever. A broker note from Citi this morning lifted the price target to $232 with the analyst saying they were expecting a positive earnings season for the healthcare giant. Its shares rose 2.6 per cent to $200.60.

Major banks recorded some moderate gains with each advancing more than 1 per cent during the session. Commonwealth Bank was the best performing, adding 7.6 points to the index and closing at $75.21 with a 1.6 per cent advance.

Information technology sector stocks were among the market's best performers. In the past few months, the sector has moved broadly in line with the US dollar, which overnight advanced against most major currencies. Wisetech shares advanced 5.8 per cent to $17.09, Afterpay Touch rose 4.3 per cent to $10.85 and Technology One finished 3.5 per cent higher at $4.40.

The trade dispute did shake commodities on Wednesday as base metals led a broad-based commodity retreat. Copper fell 3 per cent and zinc fell 2.5 per cent, with both hitting year long lows. The major mining stocks took a tumble in response and leading the market losses. BHP Billiton fell 0.6 per cent to $33.57, South32 closed 1.1 per cent lower at $3.60 and Rio Tinto went down 0.3 per cent to $79.95.

The price of brent crude fell 6.9 per cent, suffering its biggest drop in two years after Libya's National Oil Corp announced it would reopen four export terminals that had been closed since late June, strangling the country's oil output. On the market on Thursday, Origin Energy fell 3.1 to $9.43 in response, Woodside Petroleum closed 0.9 per cent lower at $35.82 and Beach Energy closed at $1.87, down 3.1 per cent.

A2 Milk also fell during the session, despite its revenue coming in above its own guidance from mid-May. The company announced group revenue for the 2018 financial year totalled $NZ922 million, a growth of 68 per cent from the previous year. The company's shares fell 3 per cent to $10.50.

Rio Tinto is launching one of its last ever pink diamond sales as it prepares to shut the only pink diamond mine in the world.

The miner has put 63 of its rare pink diamonds from its West Australian-based Argyle mine up for auction, with prices expected to run to nearly $100 million for the entire lot.

Every year, Rio Tinto selects its best pink diamonds to sell to the world's wealthiest people, and this year's auction features the largest ever vivid pink diamond since its sales began in 1984, Rio Tinto's chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques told Fairfax Media.

Rio Tinto has 63 rare pink and blue diamonds up for sale in 2018.Credit:RIO TINTO

3:42pm on 12 Jul 2018

This story might surprise old-school Wall Streeters.

Amanda Lacaze grabbed her iPhone and rattled off the names of the special minerals needed to make it. The screen was polished with lanthanum and cerium. The inside has a magnet made with neodymium and praseodymium.

Those minerals almost certainly came from China. Lacaze's job is to give the world an alternative source, in case a global trade war spirals out of control and China cuts off supply.

Right now, she can't. Her company, Lynas Corp, can provide only a fraction of the minerals - known as rare earths - that China produces. And even that source isn't a sure thing: The work is so volatile, complex and expensive that Lynas once came close to collapsing.

he brothers behind online retail pioneer Catch Group have turned to Kogan.com's house brokers in an effort to replicate the retailer's runaway success on the ASX-boards.

Street Talk understands Catch Group founders and majority owners Hezi and Gabby Leibovich have tapped investment banks UBS and Canaccord Genuity to prepare the company for a sharemarket float.

While it's only early days and the mooted initial public offering structure and timetable is some way from being finalised, it is understood the company and its banks are thinking about a potential $200 million to $300 million initial public offering before the end of the year.